Milo vs the mites

My bright-eyed boy has been battling some itchy mites for a month now, with a horrible red and scrappy looking sore chin. Tonight we did another dose of the treatment and accompanying mad scrub down of everything, and he looks a little happier, maybe? Fingers crossed everyone for my little Milo!

Bear turns 38

The invitation.



The outcome.



Happy Birthday Bear!

The party was great fun, there were shiny balloons, spelt out candles and ice cream cake, and all our favourite people turned up.

(No, there are no photos of the actual party or the excessive amounts of food.)

(Because I forgot!)

(And was busy cooking all that food, damnit.)

Adrian and Alysha's wedding

A happy happy day!



Gorgeous outfits. Apparently inspired by the very scary clockwork frenchmen Madame Pompadour Dr Who episode. Very very scary episode. Still, they looked great!



There was much excitment amongst the under-10s about the throwing of rose petals. This young man on the left wasn't sure if he was allowed to throw them on the couple so tossed them over himself instead.



We had a great time! Apart from being so genuinely excited and happy for Adrian and Lysh, we also got to catch up with one of Bear's old friends and his very cool wife and kids, including an extremely nice 6 yr old who was great to sit next to and chat about toys and food and all sorts of things. I am so glad I didn't have to make polite small talk with people I didn't know, because I am very unskilled at that. Also, I had had several drinks.

We recovered over Sunday and I almost slept through all of Monday too. Back to work now, but certainly, desperately, a holiday must be in the offing? Soon?

Rubble rousers

Digging up the floor!





Now we are so sore.



But there are only six rows more!

Alfie opens can of pringles

I was looking through my rattie pictures and found some old 30 second clips of Alfie, opening a (mostly empty) can of Pringles. His method was basically to make holes in the lid around the edge till he got a strip of it detached, and then pulled on that to take off the lid. Alfie was also the one who figured out how to twist open the yoggie jar and then taught Monty how to do it. The third clip is my favourite. It cracks me up everytime I watch it.

Alfie was such a great rat.


First clip: Alfie notices the can and decides to try opening it. With his teeth.



Second clip: Alfie really gets going, hauling the can to his play area and trying to get a better hold on it.



Third clip: About twelves minutes after the first clip, he does it! Hooray! Hilarity ensues.



We miss you Alfie!

Introducing Simon

Hi Simon!

Simon came to live with us in March this year. We picked him up from the RSPCA Blue Mountains shelter after seeing his ad on their website.



When we first got him home, he was healthy but skinny and surprisingly well-behaved for a rescue rat. He would certainly have been a pet in his previous home, being used to being held and petted, and very generous with licks and cleaning our hands for us. He also liked it very much when we scratched him on his scruff between the ears, probably because he hadn't had any rat company for at least a month that we know of (ratties can't reach that bit themselves, which is why they tend to groom each other on that spot).

I have no idea how it was that he came to be in some stranger's backyard up in the mountains, where he leapt upon a freaked out (but obviously kind) woman who brought him to the RSPCA. Which is where he lost his balls. Poor thing.

So he had his big outdoors adventure, lost his harbls, settled into the shelter, charmed everyone, and then came home to live with us. He seems to like it here.



He seemed very relaxed when we first held him, and would brux contentedly when we told him it was his home for life and we'd take care of him, hot dinners every night, warm bedding, etc etc, all the most comforting things we could think of to say to a lost rattie. I think he decided we were Okay.

Eventually, he made friends with Milo and Beans ("eventually" encompassing a whole month of separate cages, rat wrangling, big pouffy fights and many hilarious incidents), and moved into the big rattie apartment where his beautiful plush fur and big warmness would certainly have been welcome in the cold weather. Simon is the plushest rattie I've ever held - I think desexing might've helped on that account. He has masses of fragrant, soft and very fine golden orange fur, with a cream belly and a cream smear up on one side, an orange creamsicle of a rat!

Anyway that's it for now. More stories of Simon later. Here is a picture of him enjoying some strawberry smoothie with Milo and Beanie. He's not so skinny anymore!

mucosal musings

I have been home sick for a week and a half now.

When it began, I thought, oh well, I'll just rest it out, remembering the need to take lots of afternoon naps from the last time this happened.

Of course I'd forgotten that the reason I'd had to take all those afternoon naps was because I could not get any sleep at night on account of All That Snot. Needing to be ejected, painfully hacked out, or otherwise stubbornly clogging up headspace and all breathing routes.

Green snot is the most satisfying and the transparent stuff just feels like such a waste of time. Panadol helps though, as do hot water bottles, thick socks and sleeping in two layers of pyjamas plus fleecy bathrobe. The husband is also useful for sympathy (albeit wearing thin), extra warmth during the night and for re-fueling the hot water bottle in the morning.

The best thing however, has been the discovery of hot drinks made with lemon, mint, slices of ginger and lovely bluebell honey. Mmmm.

*sniff*